This was his response to the numerous inquiries made during this year's U.K. visit concerning the current spate of world-war and Earth-change catastrophe predictions. Bhakti is the most powerful force in existence and anyone practicing faithfully under bona-fide guidance will be fully protected from all kinds of distress. Srila Gurudeva stresses this point over and over again. The single biggest real disaster facing devotees is having no faith in the words and potency of Sri Guru.

Before an audience of 200 or so devotees and guests, in a back-garden marquee down a quite cul-de-sac in the leafy Birmingham suburb of Handsworth Wood, the very biggest problems facing mankind i.e. imminent war, environmental destruction and the inevitable death of all those who have taken birth were addressed, considered and dispensed with in one authoritative lecture.

"This world has been destroyed countless times, but no soul has ever been harmed by that" stated Srila Maharaja while commenting on the G8 summit meeting of world leaders taking place just a few miles down the road, as they all failed miserably to agree how to prevent the seemingly inevitable nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

"They have created so many problems they can not solve and now they are fearing" he remarked. Practicing the process of krishna-bhakti under the guidance of an eternal resident of Vraja, knowing that the soul can never be destroyed, is the ultimate solution to any pursuit of peace and happiness - a message our Gurudeva wants us all to digest and broadcast far and wide.

50,000 people had gathered in the centre of Birmingham, including a six-mile-long human chain of peace-protestors encircling the convention centre where the 8 most powerful world leaders were holding their annual summit meeting. A pathetic sight - the hopeful begging hope from the hopeless. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja commenting about democracy in one first canto Srimad Bhagavatam purport described: "... men less than animals voting for less-than-animal men..." The futility of peace protestors petitioning politicians to restore world peace is something akin to farm animals begging mercy from the slaughterhouse operators - a hopeless request to the people least able and least likely to help them. Only the qualified and supremely merciful Vaisnavas can ever help us.

Acknowledging all other attempts at achieving lasting peace and happiness are futile we should reflect on our Srila Gurudeva's definition of over-endeavor, or activities which amount to no more than a useless waste of time: "Anything that is not bhajan is an over-endeavor". That cleared away a few of the cobwebs of misconception, for me at least. We have absolutely no other real duties or concerns whatsoever.

Our Gurudeva is flooding the entire world with the nectar-ocean of pure hari-katha, daily pouring into our hearts the very means to transform our lives, i.e. the contents of his heart. To surrender fully and unconditionally at the lotus feet of the pure Vaisnava guru, knowing that all power to achieve perfection comes through his mercy, will open the door to the highest realms of eternal and unimaginable bliss.